IT security and control firm Sophos is reminding organisations of the importance of data protection. This is following media reports that more than 100,000 student records were accidentally made available online.
The error by The Princeton Review, an educational support services provider, is believed to have happened as a result of the company changing internet providers earlier this year, exposing the confidential data for seven weeks.
The Princeton Reviewโs publicly accessible and searchable website exposed the dates of birth and names of 74,000 students in Virginia. Another file revealed the dates of birth, test scores and ethnicity of 34,000 students in Florida, after the county hired The Princeton Review to measure academic progress.
โWe should all be grateful that The Princeton Review has taken action over this data breach, but it should never have happened in the first place,โ said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. โThe information should have been held securely, and identifying data such as names and full dates of birth should have been wiped from the files.โ
The data breach was discovered and exposed by a competitor of The Princeton Review as it conducted competitive intelligence.
โIf you need any encouragement to make sure that your house is in order and your data secure, and the threat of identity thieves isnโt enough for you, then maybe the thought that a business rival might take your blunder to the press will do it,โ added Cluley. For more information, visit:
